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Designing, Implementing, and Reflecting on a Literacy Lesson for Diverse Learners
Student and Language Background: Valuable Data for Linguistically Accessible Instruction – Part 4 As an educator of literacy it is important that we use the students’ primary language proficiencies as a foundation for second language acquisition and literacy learning in English. There are strategies that educators can use to scaffold language and literacy learning for English language learners and speakers of nonstandard dialects. With that being said educators can use students existing literacy skills in their primary language or nonstandard dialect along with their emerging English skills as a resource for literacy learning. I read a scenario about a seven year old girl from Ukraine. In this scenario the student’s oral language resources can be used as a foundation for improving literacy learning. The student’s oral language can be used to get aquatinted with new vocabulary words and their meanings. They could use Ukraine words and then look up their meaning in an English dictionary. They would need to recite the meaning using their oral language skills and speak how the definition was written. In the scenario, there are several types of evidence based instructional strategies that educators might consider for the linguistically diverse. Nonverbal and paraverbal clues could be used in the scenario. In this scenario the student would be able to work with students who are also from Ukraine and work together to give meaning to the lesson. In these activities student should be able to work together and it should interactive. The educator should also encourage students to use their home language in the classroom. The teacher can label items in English and Spanish along with a picture above or below the name. While working with students who are linguistically and culturally diverse from one’s self it is important to provide students with learning opportunities to include their native home language in the classroom. These students should not be made to forget their home language, instead they should be able to embrace it and use it along with their new language. Informal Language and Literacy Assessments Module 5 I often find myself collecting writing samples to use as an ongoing formative assessment. With the data, it is used in the classroom to make adjustments to the long term and short term planning. It also helps me determine the student’s current strengths and learning needs in the classroom. During the week I worked with a linguistically diverse learner in my classroom. I gave him a task to draw a picture and write three sentences about the picture. I was able to obtain a great deal of information from the data I collected about the student’s language and literacy practices. The student used correct English and demonstrated the correct mechanics also. He struggled a few times which informed me that we need to do more vocabulary practice with the student. The student is developing as a reader and a writer. He is focusing on how to use the correct mechanics that are appropriate for kindergarten such as finger spacing, ending punctuation, beginning a sentence with a capital letter, and spelling CVC and sight words correctly. When it came to identifying this students’ level of spelling, reading, and writing development, I placed this student in intermediate literacy. This is where the student is continuing to develop their skills as a reader, listener, speaker, and writer. Informal language and literacy assessments are important to conduct with culturally and linguistically diverse students in the classroom. This give the teacher insight on the data, how to plan instruction, what to teach to the student, along with what stages those students are currently in.